The Shepherd Tale: A Superhero Story
by MythicalParadox
Summary: Superhero AU/ In the city of Olympus, where the forces of good and evil constantly battle for control. The second generation of heroes must take up their parents' mantle and protect the innocents from a rising threat that has long been forgotten.


Olympus city. The city of the gods, and monsters. To Annabeth Chase, the city of cliches. Evil villainous plots thwarted by heroes, the spandex, and god-awful speeches about justice. She will never understand how the city attracts the best of humanity and the worst. Heroes and villains have been fighting for the city for years, long before she decided the take up her mother's mantle. The great retired hero, Athena - Cheif Strategist of the Olympians. With her superior intellect and psionic abilities, she was a force to be reckoned with. Because of her efforts, the Olympians were almost unbeatable to any foe they faced, both in Olympus City and the rest of the world. Annabeth had large shoes to fill which seemed to be forever growing. Luckily she gave up on trying to impress her mother long ago.

The Olympians seem to be the large shadow that the new generations of heroes could never escape from. They were the first superhero team that saved the city and the world countless times. The only ones that stood up to them were the Giants and Titans. The embodiment of pure evil molded into seriously demented people. Although Annabeth wants a bigger challenge in her superhero career, she counts her lucky stars that she'll never have to face them. Unfornantly they were not real gods and felt fatigue after years of fighting. The superhero gig was too tiring and after their last and final battle with the Titans, they retired. But that didn't stop them from doing their good deeds for the world. Athena created the Chiron Academy for enhanced humans and their children to have a semi-normal education. Named after the original Olympian caretakers. People that graduate usually has complete control over their powers so they're not a threat to innocents, and are not easily identifiable. Some of the teachers are former allies of the Olympians or the Olympians themselves like Hermes, Ares, and Chiron.

A lot of them finally found the time to find love and have kids of their own, who immediately took up their parents mantle of being the guardian of this very odd city where the excitement is found in every corner. They created a new team. The Demigods. Which is why we find Annabeth on patrol, hovering above the city with her psionic powers keeping her afloat. Patrol is usually boring, tedious and everyone would try to find a reason to avoid it. Who needs patrolling when you have the Festus system overlooking every security camera in the city. Unfortunately, Annabeth had to take the next three shifts after asking her teammates to take her shift while she was studying for an exam. At least from up, she doesn't have to suffer Leo flirting, and awkwardly avoiding Luke who wants to date. Back in the academy, she would have jumped at the chance, but she decided to dedicate her time to the superhero lifestyle and avoid relationships. She was barely friends with her own teammates, only hanging out with Thalia, Hazel, and Piper. Annabeth wasn't much of a team player. While she viewed protecting the city as a duty and a responsibility, some of her teammates were only heroes to appease their parents or for the fame.

Oh, how she sometimes wish she went solo like the mysterious hero that have been popping up around the city with the name Shepherd, Riptide or Jack Frost. Depending on the news channel. That hero has been a thorn in the side for many members of The Demigods for months now. Complaints of him getting in the way, taking the glory, or just fixing whatever mess a dollar store villain makes before a Demigod could come in and save the day. Not much is known about him, only that he has advance hydrokinesis. A lot of people have believed that Poseidon - the only Olympian nobody knows what happened to, have come back to businesses. Athena already ruled that out instantly when the topic of the hero came up a few weeks ago. He unnerved the rest. Most heroes in their generation were either an apprentice to an Olympian or a part of The Demigods. The fact that he denied invitations multiple times have made many members feel offended, their pride wounded. As if joining their cool club was a high honor.

Her earpiece suddenly comes to life."Owl? Come in"

"Yeah, Jupiter?"

"Festus has spotted a strange occurrence near your sector. Some sort of weird energy signature is messing with the sensors at Vesta street. Could you check it out?"

"Roger" Annabeth responded, turning off her communicator. She berated herself for leaving it on when she took off. Patrol time is the time for peace and quiet, not Oracle or Jupiter telling her to investigate every corner store robbery. There are cops in the city, and Annabeth believed that they should be useful for something. With a sigh, she turned around towards Vesta street. The scene was a mess. Cars turn over, pedestrians either on the ground cowering behind covers, or taking videos from a distance. Idiots, Annabeth thought. Why preserve your life while you can get those sweet Youtube views. At the center of the chaos was the rogue hero, one arm outstretched, holding up some sort of staff, controlling a large orb of water. Annabeth landed next to him, getting his attention.

"Hey you missed the fun" the teen said with a lopsided smile. He didn't look like most heroes she encountered. Wearing three layers of clothes: a button-up white shirt kept partially buttoned, a plain navy blue hoodie, and a black leather jacket with a blue tribal design on the back with a trident in the center. On his lower body, he wore plain black jeans and blue shoes. His hood was up, casting a shadow over his eyes. His skin was obviously He was lean, with a swimmer body. Annabeth knew looks could be deceiving. It's well known that he helped pick a cement truck off of Jupiter once, a massive blow to his pride. In his hand was a shepherd crook.

Annabeth takes a closer look at the ball of water and notices a man trying to escape. "What going on here?"

"Meet Alabaster Torrington. Magic user. Not very right in the head if you ask me. Has some information that I need." he explained casually and turned to Annabeth checking her out "So who are you?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow under her eye mask "You don't know who I am" she asked surprised.

"To be honest, I don't bother remembering either of your names but I don't mind knowing your name beautiful," he said with a smile.

It was painfully obvious that he was flirting with her but for some odd reason, she doesn't have the usual urge to exit the conversation. Years of guys back at the academy and in her team taught her how to expertly avoid awkward flirting and date proposal. For some odd reason, she can't stop the smile from forming on her face. She held out her hand and introduces herself. "The name is Silver Owl"

Shepeard smile grows bigger, he teeth showing. He moves his left hand under his outstretched arm and grasped her hand. "People call me Riptide or Jack Frost. Personally, I prefer Shepherd. Whatever your preference. Nice outfit by the way." Annabeth looked down at her 'hero' costume. It was different from most. First of all, there was no spandex. She wore black padded tunic and pants with purple ribbons tying off the cuff of her writs and ankles. The tunic was both bulletproof and fireproof. Courtesy of Silena secret boyfriend. Above all that was her cloak of black and grey owl feathers with only the hood not covered. It was a weird cloak that her mother gave to her on her twelfth birthday, which gave her the name Silver owl. Currently, her hood was down showing her honey blond princess curls and black mask.

Annabeth crossed her arm and examines the area. A few civilians deem that it was safe to come out and were taking pictures and videos of the heroes. "Thank you. Between you and me, spandex is not my thing."

"Damn shame. I'm sure you would look great" Annabeth blushed slightly and had a feeling that he winked under his hood. This man was certainly different.

"My oh my! Aren't you flirty? You don't give the same treatment to my teammates, do you? Don't want them to be jealous now, don't we?" While on the outside she was her cool and collected self, inside she was panicking. She does not flirt. It's too awkward, personal and way to inappropriate between colleagues. Especially in the public. The internet would have a field day.

Shepherd smiles sheepishly and scratches the back of his head which to Annabeth, made him a lot cuter than the overconfident guys she's used to dealing with. "Sorry, got a bit carried away. Your teammates usually get annoyed when I forget their names. So why are you called the Silver Owl?" he asked.

Right on cue the orb of water holding Alabaster exploded into steam, dropping the now red-faced and burned magic user on the ground. Without missing a beat, he forms a ball of fire in his hand and shot it towards the mysterious hero. Annabeth instincts take over and using her psionic powers, she lifts her cloak to cover him. The fireball collided with the feathered cloak, surrounding the both of them with smoke. For a brief moment, Alabaster became elated before Annabeth levitates a piece of debris and chucks it at his head. Knocking him out.

Shepherd looks at the scene in shock before smiling at the cloak in front of him. Annabeth black and grey feathered cloak have transformed into deadly metal feathers. "So that's why eh. Now that the coolest thing I have ever seen."

Annabeth beamed with pride but in her mind, she silently cursed herself for looking way to pleased by the compliment. It's not her fault really. The number of times she heard from her teammates on how useless it was made her a bit defensive when it comes to them. Especially when they follow it up with 'I'll protect you, honey'. She was about to reply before five beings fell from the ground behind Alabaster unconscious body. Annabeth recognized them instantly and groaned inwardly. In front of her was her teammates. Jupiter, his older sister Spirit, Ghost King, Praetor and finally Traveler.

Shepherd stiffens up and Annabeth knew he was thinking of grabbing Alabaster and leaving. She couldn't blame him. These heroes were part of the 'A-team'. The more powerful and core members of The Demigods. It was rare for six of them to be on the field at the same time. The press will be having a field day with this.

"Silver Owl, why haven't you checked in?" Jupiter asked in a commanding voice. Annabeth rolled her eyes at that. Due to his father being Zeus, the leader of the Olympians, Jupiter was thrust into a leadership position by her mother and many members of Demigod. A few members such as herself never see him as the leader but as a colleague, an equal, something that he gets annoyed at.

Annabeth crossed her arms and looked at them in a bored manner "I turned it off" she said with a shrug annoying both Jupiter and Predator. Ghost King and Spirit tried to hide their smiles, while Traveler sighed and steps up.

"You can't keep doing this Owl" he chastised.

"We'll talk about Silver Owl following procedures later. We have guests." Praetor interjected looking at Shepherd.

"Oh, it's you" Spirit muttered rudely.

"And you are?" Shepherd asked with a bored voice. Annabeth put a hand to cover her smile knowing that this would make Spirit furious.

"You know damn well who I am" Spirit growled, electricity tracing up her arms.

He puts a hand under his chin pretending to think "Hmm. You're the one that can make air farts right? I thought you were a guy. Wait...I think that's my old landlord" The area became silent as his words began to sink in. Even the gathering crowd of civilians looked at him with wide-eyed, questioning his sanity. Spirit is well known to not take insults lightly. Shepherd just continued to grin, knowing what gonna happen next.

She leaps forward, her hand covered in electricity while Shepherd just stood there, arm crossed. Annabeth began to move to intercept but a blue portal opened in front of Spirit with her going through. Traveler lowered his arms with an annoyed look on his face. He was one of the few heroes that didn't wear any type of masks.

"Every time she meets him" he muttered.

"Well this has been fun but I got places to be, people to interrogate," Shepherd said. He moved to grab Alabaster but Jupiter stands in his way. "Mind moving sparky"

"No. What do you want with him?" Jupiter asked, glaring at the rogue. Clouds up above started to form and smell of ozone. Ghost King knelt down and examined the unconscious boy.

The ground began to shake and all sense of joy left Shepherd face and he glared at the man in front of him."None of your business"

Annabeth looked down at Ghost King examing Alabaster body and noticed a hand twitch. Annabeth eyes widened but before she could yell out a warning, Alabaster suddenly sat up, grabbed the front of the Ghost King rags and headbutts him. He stood up quickly and backs away from the heroes. Green sparks erupted out of his hand and he cackled madly "There's no point in fighting Shepherd" he said with disdain, blood dripping from his mouth. "The Crooked one always gets what he wants" and with that, he disappeared in an explosion of green electricity.

Shepherd quickly ran to where he was. "Dammit. Three weeks of tracking him down in the toilet" he then looked at the superhero team "All because of you goody two shoes". Annabeth remained silence as she replayed in her head Alabaster final words. The 'Crooked Man'. She knew she heard it once before but could pinpoint where.

Slowly the ground stopped shaking as Shephard took a deep breath to calm himself. His signature smirk plated itself back on his face and he stepped back in front of Annabeth, closely. Annabeth hated when people came inside of her personal space but the smell of sea radiating from him was intoxicating. "Well, you win some, you lose some. Won't get hung up on this failure. We'll see him again" he told Annabeth completely ignoring her teammates. From her experience, these were her most prideful teammates, except maybe for Ghost King. All natural leader. All demanding respect.

"Aren't you wise?" Annabeth said with a grin, surprising her teammates. "Sorry about this. What are you investigating?"

He took one of her hands and placed a kiss on it "Just some whispers in the shadows." He then leans in close, his mouth to her ear and whispered something that made her weak on her knees. Before she could react, his body slowly dissolved into mist, the Shepard nowhere in sight. Annabeth stood there in shock, stiff as a board. Hundreds of questions racing through her head.

Praetor walked about her and place a hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok? What did he say?" Annabeth doesn't answer her and takes off into the air.

* * *

The Demigod headquarter was not as special as some would believe. There was no devil contract ritual going on, or aliens being experimented on. Just a large facility embedded into Mount Olympus with a large campus outside the mountain entrance. There was training grounds, residential dorms, cafeterias, and classrooms. Mount Olympus was practically a university for some.

Down at the 50th floor beneath the mountain held the main conference room and 'the bank'. 'The bank' as the team called it, was a collection of artifacts, inventions, and equipment that previous villains have used against them and the city. Only the core member of the team could access them, only with an Olympian accompanying them.

The meeting room was just outside of 'the bank' where a large circular table was located in the center. In front of the table was a large computer screen that was switching between thousands of cameras from around the city. Annabeth stood away from other members of the team as they waited for Athena to begin the impromptu meeting.

Only a few members were here. Sitting in his seat, Leo was showing a video on his tablet to Piper, Katie, Silena, and the Stolls. Once in a while, they would look up with a smile that annoyed Annabeth, and giggle like little school girls.

Having enough of this, Annabeth turned around from the scenery and looked at the wall behind her. The wall of remembrance. It was at the back of the room, parallel to the large computer screen, with two elevator doors on either side. Picture frames covered the wall showing heroes that have fallen in battle or retired. People like Helios, who absorbed the energy of a nuclear blast that was planted in city hall by the mad scientist and Titan Prometheus. Saving the city and dying the process. His apprentice, Apollo will later take his place with the Olympians.

Whenever she looked at this wall, she felt a sense of dread. Nobody ever talked about Helios anymore, except when they're talking about the Helios Stadium. Is this her future? To be placed on this wall and barely get a glance at? To have a coffee named after her? Annabeth shook her head and banished these thoughts. She can't start thinking about her legacy just yet. She makes her way to the center of the wall where the largest framed picture, featuring of the Olympians themselves.

All twenty members stood behind the exact same table that her teammates are sitting at now. They all looked happy and joyful. It looked weird to Annabeth to see her mother smile so widely. At the center of the group was the original six. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Hecate, and Demeter. On the far right where Zeus stood was Chiron, their caretaker, and foster father. On the far left, next to Poseidon was Doctor Jackon. She had healing powers so powerful, it made Apollo's look like a bandage in comparison. For some unknown reason, Poseidon, Hecate, and the good Doctor have all disappeared a few years after the Olympians have announced disbandment. Although they don't show it much, this hit the core members of The Olympians hard.

The sound of the elevator doors opening pushed Annabeth out of her thoughts. Out came the remaining core members of The Demigods with their overseer and mentor, Athena leading them. Annabeth ignored all of their stares and went to her seat opposite to her mothers. Annabeth wasn't exactly close to the majority of her team. She preferred to work alone and get the job done 'Nice and Clean' without any theatrics the majority of her teammates can't seem to avoid. This plus the cold indifference she showed when interacting with her, made her not particularly close with any of them. Except for the girls from her old dorm.

The rest of the team sat down in their seats and waited for Athena, who was the head of the table with a tablet in front of her, to start the meeting. To her left was her best friend Thalia Grace, and to her left was her other best friend Piper. Annabeth put on her hood up covering her face and crossed her feet on top of the table, earning a glare from her mother and Jason. Annabeth just rolled her eyes and examined her nails. She knew this would make a lot of the more serious, rule-following heroes such as Jason, Reyna, and Frank, very annoyed with her but she didn't really care. The fact that she rustled their jimmies is a plus to her.

The core members were either the most powerful or had skills that were extremely useful. It was not a coincidence that the majority were either a child of the Olympians or mentored by them. They have all been molded, since the time their powers started to emerge, to be heroes. For Annabeth, it started when she turned 12. When she ran away from home after using her powers on her stepmother during an argument. Athena suddenly popped up and took Annabeth under her wing.

Athena cleared her throat and all chatter stopped. "As many of you may know, an event has occurred involving the rogue hero Shepherd and a magic user. Annabeth dear, could you debrief us and fill in the rest?" By the way, she was looking at her, Annabeth knew she couldn't pawn this off to Jason to explain.

Annabeth looked up from her nails and took a deep breath. "Jupiter reported that Festus have detected odd energy signature a Vesta street, I went to investigate. I came to the scene with Shepherd already there with the magic user named Alabaster Torrington. Jason came with Reyna, Thalia, Nico, and Luke. Thalia got too emotional so Luke transported her. Alabaster escaped during the pissing contest Jason initiated and the Shepherd left. The end." Annabeth reported with her signature deadpan voice.

Leo scoffed "You forgot about flirting". This gained many snickers amongst her peers.

"Leo has it been so long that a girl willingly talked to you, that you thought that was flirting" Annabeth snidely said. She saw a flash of hurt in his eye before he looked away. Annabeth pushed the feeling of guilt creeping up from inside her and ignored the look Piper gave her.

"You were totally flirting" Travis Stoll muttered.

Before Annabeth could refute him, Luke spoke up "What I want to know, is how she could talk with the guy as if they're old pals and he can't bother to remember our names" Annabeth rolled her eyes at the obvious jealousy in his voice. She barely gave guys here a time of day and he can't handle the fact she gave another guy more attention.

Athena tapped on her tablet and a blue life-size hologram of the rogue hero appeared at the center of the table. Annabeth unconsciously smiled at the image. "This boy has been a mystery since he first appeared six months ago."

"We know he's an ass with memory problems" Thalia said with a scowl.

"I don't know. He could be a nice guy" Silena interjected.

"He called my powers air farts, and thought I was a guy." Thalia growled.

Athena perked up at this and stared her down "Air farts you say. You have not mentioned this before"

Thalia looked uncomfortable and did not even snapped at the people laughing at her. "This is the first time he called them...air farts"

"Interesting" Athena muttered, looking at the hologram thoughtfully and raised an eyebrow.

"Perhaps it's how Annabeth interacted with him" Rachel, or Oracle suggested. Whenever she used her power, she gets a wistful looked to her face, her eyes become unfocused.

"We were acting professionally the first time we encountered him" Reyna stated.

Rachel looked at Reyna, her eyes glowing green. As she spoke, it sounded like there was more than one person speaking "Yes, but that is against his nature. You spoke to him as if he was lesser than you. A child playing with adults. The Owl treats him like an equal. Goes with the flow, so to speak" Her eyes dimmed down, showing her naturally green eyes. "Also helps that Annabeth doesn't give off the vibe of unhinged women thirsting for blood. Thalia"

"That man is infuriating. How hard is it to learn our name? It's simple" Thalia exclaimed, crossing her arm.

"Enough. We're getting off topic. Now Annabeth why did Shepherd want the magic user?" Athena interjected,

"He said he was investigating something for the past three weeks." Annabeth said.

"Didn't the bad dude mention something about the Cracked One?" Nico asked.

"The Crooked One" Luke corrected. Athena looked at him sharply and stood up from her seat. The look she was giving Luke both peaked Annabeth curiosity and terrified her. What could make the great Athena scared? Annabeth removed her feet from the table and sat up straight. She knew she heard that name before but the memory seemed to be beyond her grasp.

"What!? Did you say the Crooked One? Are you sure that what he said?" Athena asked.

Luke looked at her in shock and stuttered out his answer. "Y-Yeah"

Athena cursed under her breath and grabbed her tablet. The room became silent as they stared at her tapping on her tablet with an anxious look on her face. Finally, she stopped and took a deep breath. "If that is all, meeting is adjourned. Keep your communicator on at all time. Including you, Annabeth". One by one, her teammates stood from their seat, not bothering to push the topic. They all knew this was something beyond them and by the look on Athena's face, it was Olympian level.

Annabeth stay seated, looking blankly at her mother former seat, her heart was beating fast and a war played out in her head. Athena noticed something and looked at her daughter concerned. "Annabeth dear, are you alright?" Everyone heard her question and all looked at Annabeth. This made her feel worse.

She took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. "There something else"

"What is it?" Athena asked, taking her seat once again.

"Before Shepherd left, he whispered something into my ear" Annabeth revealed.

"Oh yeah. I was wondering about that. Must have been serious to spook you" Nico said.

"What did he say?" Hazel asked.

Annabeth began to fidget in her seat as she tried to find a way to tell them. Thalia placed a comforting hand on her shoulders, obviously worried for her friend. Annabeth gave her a graceful smile and stared at her mother with a determined look.

"He knows my real name"

 **A/N: Hey thanks for reading my new story. Some of you might be thinking, why am I creating a new story when I have two incomplete stories ready to be updated. Well, I have writers' block for one and I had this idea for awhile now that I just want to put out. I like writing stories as a stress reliever and when I have an idea, it makes my other stories take a backseat. This would be a short story. Don't expect consistent updates as I have a busy college and work life. To all of my followers, I will be releasing random stories and crossovers in the coming weeks just because I wrote them.**

 **Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes. I suck at editing. Please review, favorite and follow/ They help me tremendously and always gives me a push to write more. Also, check out my other stories. I'm planning to release more.**


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